Junk Collage 2

Gil did another collage with one of my sketches. Cool.

UT Baseball Stuff

Here are a couple of snaps from the Regionals this year.




Carson Kainer at bat.


You can check out the renovations of Disch-Falk Field on the official UT page and read about the recovery of Carson Kainer.

Joanna has been covering the renovating as well. She has some good photos on her page.

It is a good time in Texas when Texas Baseball is on. October 26 and 27 is the Fall World Series. Can't wait! Hook 'em!

Junk turned into Art

I found a thread on wetcanvas.com the other night where someone was asking for "junk photos and sketches" to use for digital collages. I answered and told the artist, Gil, that he could use some of mine from this blog and sent him a couple of bloopers from the camera. Check out the beautiful abstract he made with some of them in combination with others. I think this is so cool.... What imagination and skill. Fun as well, makes you smile.

I did no art today. We were packing to go to Magdalena and start working our way back to Texas. It is sad to pack up all the pastels, acrylics, oils, sketchbooks, paper, canvas, etc. I brought so much stuff. But accomplished a lot this summer. I have a couple of new paintings for Peppers in Magdalena for the Cowboy Christmas on October 6 and 7. Sue and I had a terrific time doing some plein air and visiting and getting energized for more art. Gen did a plein air with me or I with her, really. I have this blog up and running. That is so nice. This will be post #77. Sketching with the wetcanvas.com Scavenger Hunts has been very good for me. I have sketched more in the last month than in years. How great is that?

We will see how many posts I get uploaded from Magdalena. Check back for more art.

Latte and more

It is so hard to get in the mood to pack and get ready to go to Magdalena on Saturday. Posting from there will be very sporadic. We shall see. I am not ready for this 'summer' to be over.

So, as a diversion and a way to put off doing things, I am posting these sketches from the Scavenger Hunt. You know you can click on the images to make them bigger and you can comment at the end. Would love to hear what you think. Also in my signature on the blogs, I have Jo Castillo (noblock99) because on wetcanvas.com this is my e-mail name and some of the artists I post to would not know me as Jo Castillo. I got this name in 99, obviously, when I first started using Yahoo. Interesting? Probably not.

Gene framed the apples and the orange door today. Thank you, Gene!

The sketches today were done with the Pigma Micron 05 pen in the generic sketchbook. It is getting harder and harder to open back that sketchbook. The wires are bending and loosing their grip!

The #6 sketch - open book, is a watercolor book Joanna gave me. She would really like me to do more watercolors. Look Joanna, it is open and I was reading about painting apples! Can't imagine why. Anyway, this sketch reminded me of you.



#7 - hot beverage, is my latte. Gene got me a latte machine when Sue was here visiting as she can't get by without a latte a day. :) So this reminds me of Sue and in honor of Joanna I added the watercolor to it. About 25-30 minutes. I was going to do it over, but decided it was good enough for a sketch. I love blue glass and cups, so I got two to go with the latte machine.



#8 - stove. This is the only stove in this house. Some of the artists had nice cast iron heating stoves to sketch. I started without really thinking about all the ellipsis in the pans or I would have removed them. Argh. So, I hurried through it in about 10 minutes!



I am finding that with all this sketching, it is getting easier. It is also good to use different equipment, which this forum on wetcanvas is encouraging us to do.

Value Sketch

As I mentioned earlier, one of the challenges was to do a value sketch in black and white, using 5 values. I did this sketch of two apples. In the photo the reflections look almost as light as the highlights. Sorry they are darker in real life.



One of the TV artists I have learned from is Helen Van Wyk.(Interesting articles about her on this site>) She worked with the 5 value system. She said you use the body color which is the mid value of an object, the body shadow which is the shadow side of an object, the reflection which is light but not as light as the highlight, the highlight is the lightest and the cast shadow is the darkest. The cast shadow is the shadow cast by the object. It works pretty well, you can see it a little in my apple, hopefully. On a face for example, the nose has a body shadow on the side away from the light, but the little shadow under the nose is a cast shadow. In a portrait you get a reflection under the chin and a cast shadow from the chin. This change in values gives shape and roundness to objects in a still life. You can get a three dimensional look on a flat canvas or paper, called trompe l'oeil.

Another interesting thing in still lifes is that it is darker on the side where the light is coming from and it is darker behind the objects usually and the light is up front with more detail. This is the opposite of landscapes. You make the far away hills paler and bluer to account for the atmosphere and as things get closer, they get darker and more defined.

Just full of information tonight. Next is my number 4 in the hunt. A ladle. Not too hard, except the only ladle in this rent house is a silver (well stainless steel) one to use for serving at the table. Very hard to show shine in pen. Watercolor might have been easier. Will have to try that! At least I should get credit in the challenges for the ellipse.

Scavenger Hunt 11 is in full swing

For Scavenger Hunt #11, number 1 - a boot, number 2 - favorite fall clothing, Levi jacket and number 3 - a glove. About 40 minutes on Daler-Rowney pastel paper, 9 x 12 inches, with Derwent pastel pencils. I blended a little on the boot with my finger, but when I did it on the jacket near the collar with such light pastel it combined with the yellowy paper and looks turquoise or green. So, I left the rest more like a sketch with no more blending.

The challenges in this hunt are: Challenge #1: Include as many ellipses as possible; the one who accumulates the highest number during the hunt wins the honorable mention for bravery!
Challenge #2: Do the opposite of your norm. If you usually draw fast, draw slow. If you usually draw slow, draw fast.
Challenge #3: Paint or draw an item in black and white, utilizing just five values with no blending or gradating.

Several items will be difficult here. Fog, puddle, I think our rain is gone..., a heater, and a fall sports item .. see what comes up... If I get that far. Hmmm.

Jo's Art Shop Update - Apples

There has been nothing new in my online store for ages. Now you will find the Little Green Apples and the Goin' Red images on tile items. The tile box, the framed tile and the tile coasters. It is a fun way to have a copy of my original paintings for a small price.

They are very well done through cafepress.com. You can click on my store in the column on the left or here to visit the tile section directly and see my other gift items.